Elliptical Dish - any good?

**raff** · 23rd September 2002

I currently have 1m offset with H-H motor. Due to position of my house (facing south east) I could only put it on the side of the house, slightly above the apex of the roof. All would be good but now my dish seems to be the only visible feature of the house and it looks pretty ugly

I can't put it at the front of the house (too big) or in the garden (no clear sight of south-eastern sky) so I decided to get rid of it and get something that would substitute my 1m solid.

I came across site ( HERE and HERE ) claiming that elliptical dish 80x90cm performs as well as 1m solid but does not require planning permission.

Now that sounds like something that would suit me perfectly but since I'm quite sceptical towards 'inventions' I'd like to get some second opinion from you guys

TIA

raff

**rolfw** · 23rd September 2002

Seems OK, bearing in mind that there are probably other similar sized dishes which will out perform certain 1 metre dishes. Its probably a touch on the expensive side and the write up on the site is a little waffley, particularly where it states that an eliptical dish is better than and oval dish ?????? When I was educated an elipse is oval and vice versa, what they actually mean is that an elipse with the horizontal long dimension is more selective in that it has a tighter focus in that plane.

N

PS. with regard to planning consent, technically any dish bigger than 45cm must not be above the apex of the roof, excluding the chimney unless planning permission has been gained.

**maltloaf** · 23rd September 2002

its just a grown up mini dish by the looks of it... i dont think it would emulate a 1m dish performance, but 90 yes...

and @ 125 quid it looks very expensive for what it is

**rolfw** · 23rd September 2002

This style of dish certainly appears to out perform the more standard ones, I've managed to great results from a Zone 2 (63cm) minidish, certainly to the same sort of standard as a similarly priced 80cm, whether it would out perform a top quality one is another matter though.

N

**raff** · 23rd September 2002

Thank you guys
As you say it is a bit on expensive side (at least LNB is included) but it does seem to be a trend to move towards elliptical dishes especially for broadband internet and normal sat reception in USA. In UK (beside sky digital) it is virtually unknown.
It'd be great to see specific technical data or a review by an independent magazine... or I simply might fork out and see for myself

Thanks for your opinions again.

regards

**Dasdl** · 25th September 2002

I had been using one of these dishes for 4 years and it performed really well. After I bought my FREECAM I was desparatley trying to get Sirus 3 so I replaced it with a Funke 1m dish and to my disgust I got the same performance! So the short of it is, this dish works very well.

Dasdl.

**raff** · 25th September 2002

Thanks Dasdl !
Hearing it from you reassured me completely

Would you know of any alternative suppliers of this type of dishes?

TIA
raff

PS. GTHFYA
(glad to hear form you again

)

**Dasdl** · 25th September 2002

Check your PM Raff

**climberwall** · 26th September 2002

I was using a 1.1m triax dish and to be honest I thought it was the bee"s knee"s.But then I got hold of a 90cm Raven eliptical and it was great best dish I have ever used and I put them up for a living.If you need to know were to get one let me know and I will tell you.One of the great things about them is that they are basic construction no wee fancy bits,every nut and bolt you could find lying about the house and the control over V\H great.Really good dish.Cheap as well.

**raff** · 27th September 2002

Thanks for replying climberwall!
I�d be more then grateful if you could let me know of alternative suppliers of these dishes.
TIA
raff

< I think I've made my mind now... I'm going for it

>

**raff** · 1st October 2002

OK, just in case anyone else has similar problem to mine, here are few useful web addresses about "Raven Gemini" (elliptical) dish:

Raven Manufacturing Ltd
http://www.raven-manufacturing.co.uk/index.html

Product description:
http://www.raven-manufacturing.co.uk/gemini.html

Techincal Spec of "Gemini" range:
http://www.raven-manufacturing.co.uk/technical.html

The cheapest place to buy (so far

):
J.W. Hardy (http://www.jwhardy.co.uk)

Raven Gemini 90 @ �39.83 (incl. VAT) and Cambridge G57 @ �18.78 (inc VAT).
Comes to �58.61 + carriage !!!

Much better then bloody �125 squid

best regards